


not shy to say i want you

by tmwshj



Category: Cravity (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Confessions, Crushes, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Swearing, gongtang, i did not plan a proper plot i am SORRY, minisong, pls enjoy gongtang, wrote this on impulse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:20:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26057122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tmwshj/pseuds/tmwshj
Summary: is taeyoung dropping hints? or is he just being nice?ah fuck it, seongmin decides to find out for himself.-title from itzy - not shy!
Relationships: Ahn Seongmin/Kim Taeyoung, Kang Minhee/Song Hyeongjun
Comments: 12
Kudos: 74





	1. not shy to say i want you

**Author's Note:**

> hello and welcome to my tenth! work on ao3 !!  
> this was written on impulse as i suddenly got an Idea™ during a class, so i wrote this instead of working on my wips 🤡
> 
> also a heads-up! maknae line are all the same age here and my english,,, idk it's definitely not *formal* yaknow :p n e ways, i hope you enjoy!

seongmin is SURE taeyoung doesn’t like him. there’s no way, right? i mean sure, taeyoung’s sweet to him and a really nice guy, but he’s nice to EVERYONE. 

so yes, seongmin reasons with himself, there’s no way taeyoung would like him like _that_.

right?

seongmin grumbles, slumping onto the classroom desk, eyes blinking in an attempt to stay awake during his chemistry lesson. thoughts of taeyoung clouded his mind the entire day, and he just couldn’t stop thinking (or overthinking). 

well, for starters, 3 months ago was when it all came down to shit.

seongmin remembers it as clear as day. he was at home studying for his history exam that was coming up in a week’s time. he was pages deep into an in-depth study of world war two when his phone lit up, dinging as he received a new message. without much thought, seongmin reaches out for his phone, squinting his eyes as he tried to adjust to the glaring light of the phone screen in the otherwise dark room, with the only light source being his desk lamp.

_[kim taeyoung (3-2)]: hey_

_[kim taeyoung (3-2)]: sorry if this is kinda weird but uh do you have any tips to study for the history exam? it’s next week and i haven’t studied anything D:_

seongmin reads the sender’s name: kim taeyoung (3-2).

seongmin doesn’t know what to feel, honestly. him and taeyoung barely talked in class, and when he says barely, he means _barely._ the only time he ever had to speak to taeyoung was during a group project a whole year ago! so why, out of all the people in class, would he ask _seongmin_? a student who’s barely above average in history class.

seongmin scrunches up his nose, typing a quick response.

_[you]: well, i’m not really the best person to ask... i’m barely passing history lol_

_[you]: but anyways, i’m just revising all the battles and trying to memorise the important dates?_

_[you]: but i suggest asking ms lee for help if you really don’t know where to begin... like i said, i’m barely passing rip :-(_

a second passes before the three grey dots appear on his screen.

_[kim taeyoung (3-2)]: i mean, i would ask her but we all know she sucks 😔_

which, unfortunately, was true. ms lee was a sweet old lady, but sometimes, seongmin doesn’t know if she was the one teaching, or whether kang minhee was the one teaching — considering the number of times minhee had to correct her on the correct dates and years of certain events. (don’t disrespect your teachers, kids, they work hard.)

_[kim taeyoung (3-2)]: and WHAT DO YOU MEAN BARELY PASSING_

_[kim taeyoung (3-2)]: HOW IS A B BARELY PASSING_

_[kim taeyoung (3-2)]: sorry for the caps lock but sir,, you’re literally the only other person that’s NOT failing this class apart from minhee_

_[kim taeyoung (3-2)]: i would ask minhee but he intimidates me lowkey LOL_

and yep, seongmin agrees with that too. with his flawless report card and towering height, minhee’s a pretty intimidating guy. (but hyeongjun, his seatmate and unlikely best friend, begs to differ, swooning over kang minhee at every chance he got. seongmin found it disgusting, but love does make you do crazy things right?)

he types in a reply.

_[you]: well we’re all aiming for As here right :p_

_[you]: well if you want i can send you my notes? i would say they’re informative enough to get a pass HAHA_

yep, seongmin’s THAT kid. you know, the nice kid that everybody loves and would let you copy his homework if you forget to do your own. hyeongjun even called him out for it once too.

(“i don’t understand why you’re so nice to everyone. aren’t you afraid of being taken advantage of? like what if one day someone took your notes and sold them under their own name! you could be losing out on some big bucks here.” hyeongjun rambles.

seongmin simply laughs. “i trust them not to. and i don’t simply give out my notes you know!”

“yeah, i know, i’m exaggerating, but still, don’t you ever feel like you’re being too nice at times?”

“nope. i just don’t see the point of deliberately being mean to people, and it’s fun i guess.” 

“fun?” hyeongjun questions, slightly losing track of what seongmin was trying to say.

“well, it’s fun to help others. it’s fun to see people smile. i don’t need anything else in return.” seongmin explains, nodding along because well, it’s true.)

snapping out of his trance, he looks back at his phone to see a reply from taeyoung.

_[kim taeyoung (3-2)]: seriously? that would be of so much help you’re literally a god blessing me right now_

seongmin snorts. he didn’t realise taeyoung could be so dramatic, especially since he was knocked out (sleeping) almost in every single class.

_[you]: it’s the least i can do :-)_

_[you]: send me your email !!_

_[you]: good luck and let’s work hard together to pass this damn class_

_[kim taeyoung (3-2)]: nah more of for me to pass this class and for YOU to ace it 👉😎👉_

seongmin could only chuckle at taeyoung’s answer, quickly switching out of kakaotalk to send taeyoung his history notes.

after the whole history notes fiasco, seongmin finds himself talking to taeyoung a little more than usual. after weeks of texting almost daily — from talking about history to complaining about ms lee to gushing over how GOOD itzy’s comeback was (itzZZZZYYYYY) — seongmin feels like he’s known taeyoung for half his high school career. they just seemed to _click_ , like puzzles in a jigsaw.

it was a regular tuesday when all hell broke loose.

“hey seongmin, do you wanna grab lunch after extra lessons today?” seongmin looks up from his desk to see taeyoung looking at him, sheepishly scratching his neck. 

“uh, it’s okay if you’re not free, i just don’t like eating lunch alone and serim’s busy today... but you don’t have to if you don’t want to!” seongmin finds himself cooing over how cute taeyoung was as he started tripping over his words. wait. did he just call him — cute?

“sure, i don’t mind!” seongmin feels a blush creeping up onto his cheeks, barely managing to give a coherent reply to taeyoung. 

“cool! uh, think about what you wanna eat alright? i’m not particularly craving anything, i just uh, need to eat lunch.” taeyoung says before hurriedly returning to his table, leaving an equally flustered seongmin at his seat.

a million thoughts ran through his head in that moment. one, taeyoung and him would be eating lunch together, alone. and two, did he just call taeyoung cute in his head?

seongmin finds himself struggling to focus in class that day, because did kim taeyoung just ask him out on a...

date?

seongmin burries his head further into his arm to hide the redness of his cheeks.

the next instance was during the lunch itself. 

despite being literal best friends online, seongmin and taeyoung in real life... 

the only word that could be used to describe their situation was: awkward. as they settled down in some fast food shop (seongmin was craving chicken), neither of them dared to speak up. what _exactly_ can they talk about?

“uh so... how did you find the history exam?” seongmin squeaks our mid-bite.

“it was alright. thanks to your notes i was actually able to answer ‘what was the impact of the munich agreement?’” taeyoung replies, a half-hearted laugh escaping from his lips.

“that’s good to hear.” seongmin smiles. “though i don’t think hyejin would agree it went well though. girl was straight up crying during the paper. was it seriously that hard?” seongmin wonders out loud. 

“oh, don’t you know? she and her boyfriend broke up the day before the exam.” taeyoung states rather matter-of-factly, with chicken still in his mouth. “it was pretty big news, they were only together for two weeks.” 

“what? hyejin had a boyfriend? and two weeks?”

“yeah. his name was hyunsuk or whatever. rumour has it that hyejin was only the side hoe.” taeyoung lowers his volume, whispering as he swallowed his food. “how could you not know? aren’t you best friends with hyeongjun? i’m pretty sure hyeongjun would have heard something from hyejin since they’re in the dance club together.” 

seongmin shrugs. “i don’t really keep up with gossip. there’s too many things happening, it’s difficult to keep up.” 

“wait, so you DON’T know that mihyun and chaesol aren’t best friends anymore?” taeyoung widens his eyes, his hand that was holding a fried chicken wing dropping onto his tray.

“huh?! haven’t they been friends since elementary?” seongmin feels his head spin at the influx of information, but he’s invested now. after all, who doesn’t like a little gossip now and then, right?

“yeah! apparently mihyun was talking shit about chaesol behind her back the whole time on twitter and chaesol apparently has a huge crush on mihyun’s boyfriend.” 

and thus, their lunch was spent just like that — with taeyoung sharing the past two years’ worth of gossip with seongmin and seongmin being way too invested in every single story.

as they were cleaning the table and preparing to leave, seongmin couldn’t help but ask, “okay, but how do you know all these things?”

“well, serim’s involved in half the school’s drama with his considerably good looks so i kinda hear a lot from him.” taeyoung shrugs, dumping his trash into the tray return section.

“and besides, knowing gossip is useful for times like this. who knew a study-addict like you loved drama, right?” taeyoung laughs. 

“hey! i do not!” seongmin gives taeyoung a whack on the shoulder. 

“suit yourself, min-ie.” taeyoung chuckles, ruffling seongmin’s hair. 

seongmin feels his heart start thrumming, as he stood still in the restaurant for a second too long. 

“hey, you coming or are you just going to stand there?” taeyoung presses his lips together, raising an eyebrow at seongmin.

“yeah yeah i’m coming!” seongmin yells back, praying that his face wasn’t beet red.

as if the lunch incident wasn’t enough, seongmin can recall one final time in which he realised that he may feel a thing or two for taeyoung.

it was his birthday, a supposedly happy occasion but unfortunately, it had to be on the day of his math exam. in the midst of his cramming, hyeongjun, along with many of his friends, had forgotten to prepare a gift for seongmin.

(“oh shit i’m so so sorry. i’ll get you something i swear!” hyeongjun seemed to apologise not only with words, but with his entire being, his tears pricking at the corner of his eyes.

“no, no, it’s alright! the best birthday gift you can give me would be to do well for this math exam. you studied hard right?” seongmin tries to cheer hyeongjun up, patting his shoulder comfortingly.

“yeah... i’m sorry seongmin-ah.”

“no need to be sorry! i’m okay, see?”)

seongmin had never been the biggest fan of birthdays ( _it’s over-hyped, he thinks_ ), so simply spending the day with his friends and family was enough for him.

after a gruelling math paper, everyone in his class was, simply-put, dead. groaning could be heard as his classmates around him discussed their answers.

“hey, what did you get for question eleven?”

“50.”

“huh? i got 163?”

“y’all got whole numbers???”

seongmin was also engaged in a heated discussion with hyeongjun, discussing what could possibly be the correct answer to question six. 

“okay wait hold on, i’ll ask minhee.” hyeongjun, in the middle of his distress, was still able to think of his unrequited crush.

seongmin could only roll his eyes, waving his hand to encourage hyeongjun to go ahead.

seongmin was about to take another look at the question, before a familiar voice came from behind him.

“how was it?” taeyoung asks, spinning hyeongjun’s chair around so he could sit on it.

“it was manageable, i guess. i made a stupid mistake on question one though.” seongmin shrugs. 

“it’s alright, i saw jaehee take a nap throughout the entire paper.” 

seongmin couldn’t help but laugh. 

“hey, uh seongmin, it’s your birthday today right?” taeyoung takes out a chocolate bar from his pocket. “i know it isn’t much, but happy birthday.” 

and taeyoung gave seongmin the brightest smile he had ever seen. 

“t-thanks. i really appreciate it.” seongmin smiles, looking at the chocolate bar — mint chocolate, his favourite.

“it’s nothing. have a great birthday min-ie!” taeyoung says, getting up to return to his seat. 

seongmin feels himself burning up.

“okay seongmin, so minhee says the answer is actually... hey, why is your face so red? and where did you even get that chocolate from?” hyeongjun returns with a face that’s (almost) as red as seongmin’s. 

seongmin may have realised his crush for taeyoung that very day. a great birthday present, if you ask me.

-

“mr ahn, i asked if electrode A was the anode or the cathode here.” 

seongmin was shaken awake from kdrama-esque flashback, quickly blinking at the question on the screen. 

“uh, it’s the anode, sir.” 

“wrong. it’s the cathode. now do me a favour mr ahn and pay attention during lessons, would you?” his chemistry teacher clicked his tongue in disapproval before turning back to the whiteboard. 

seongmin heaved a sigh of relief, looking around the classroom to check what page everyone was on, and like something out of a kdrama, he just so happened to meet eyes with a certain kim taeyoung. 

_you okay?_ he saw taeyoung mouth.

seongmin quickly nods before adverting eye contact.

“ugh, hyeongjun, i can’t do this anymore.” seongmin whines, leaning back into his chair. i mean, how could he focus on the chemical equations when his mind was full of taeyoung, taeyoung and even more taeyoung? no thoughts, head empty — just taeyoung.

ever since seongmin came to terms with his crush on literally the sweetest boy he had ever spoken to (sorry hyeongjun), sending taeyoung a text or even breathing in his direction felt nerve-wracking. however, regardless of his nervousness, seongmin would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy taeyoung’s presence. group study sessions turned into just the two of them, and whenever hyeongjun wasn’t available for lunch, taeyoung was already suggesting places for them to eat at. all in all, it felt _right_. so right, that seongmin felt a little scared.

“i don’t understand why you’re so afraid to just... confess?” hyeongjun muses.

“says the one who’s been crushing on kang minhee for months now.” seongmin deadpans.

“i didn’t ask to be attacked like this.” hyeongjun pouts, closing his chemistry textbook shut and turning to seongmin (he couldn’t give relationship advice half-heartedly, you know.) “anyways, what’s the worst that can happen?” 

“well, i get rejected, and then things get awkward, and he’ll hate me because i made everything weird. what if taeyoung’s just nice to everybody, and i’m just here catching feelings because i like the attention? oh no, do i even _like_ taeyoung like that? i do, right?” seongmin’s babbling like a baby at this point, and hyeongjun already zoned out after “i get rejected”. 

“look.” hyeongjun grabs seongmin by the shoulders (aggressively), cutting off seongmin’s mid-life crisis. staring straight into seongmin’s eyes, hyeongjun spoke with the gusto of someone who’s been in ten different relationships (hyeongjun has never been in a relationship), “like you said, taeyoung’s nice. he won’t make things awkward. i promise.”

someone loudly cleared their throat.

“mr ahn, mr song? i hope whatever you’re doing back there is related to chemistry, in some way or another.” 

“shit- sorry mr kim.” seongmin barely manages to squeak out. out of the corner of his eye, he swears he sees taeyoung snicker.

“basically,” hyeongjun lowers his head, whispering. “go get your man. besides, i’m pretty sure he likes you too. you just suck at catching hints.” 

seongmin slaps hyeongjun on the back one last time before opening his textbook.

-

okay, so his plan was to confess to taeyoung right? so how in the hell is he going to do _that_?

seongmin paces around in his room, pieces of loose-leaf paper filling the trashcan with various forms of love confessions written all over them — a cheesy poem (nope), a heartfelt letter (meh) and even origami (barely made it past the fourth step). basically, seongmin has no idea what to do. crushing on someone is hard, but damn, it’s even harder to confess.

at this point, seongmin just wants to get it over with (because love is tiring!), so without much thought, he picks up his phone and dials taeyoung’s number. 

“yo seongmin, what’s up?”

“i’m hungry. let’s get something to eat.”

“suddenly? we just had lunch though.”

_FUCK he’s right._

“i—-“

_don’t be shy. don’t be shy. you can do this, ahn seongmin._

“look, i want to tell you something. in person.”

aaannndddd there’s no turning back now.

there was a short silence on the other line. 

“sure. is the cafe near the school okay with you?” the other boy suggests.

“uh, yes.”

“okay, see you!”

_beep._

shit.

-

as he speed-walked to the cafe with itzy’s ‘not shy’ blasting from his earphones, he goes over his plan. step one: meet taeyoung. step two: confess. easy enough.

the bell at the door jingles as seongmin made his way into the quaint cafe, looking around only to see taeyoung already there. seongmin has already lost count of how many times he’s cursed himself internally today, but plus one to that number!

“you like mint, right? their mint tea is pretty good so i ordered it.” 

“you didn’t have to! i’ll pay you back, how much is it?” seongmin takes out his wallet, hoping that he has enough to pay for it.

“oh, you don’t have to! my treat.” taeyoung smiles and wow, seongmin swears he was about to collapse right there and then. was it from the tingly feeling called love, or was it from fear? guess we’ll never know. “anyways, what did you want to tell me?” taeyoung asks, putting down his iced tea. seongmin scans the small coffee table, only to see geography notes.

oh right, taeyoung studies geography. and there’s a geography exam tomorrow.

taeyoung has an exam tomorrow?! 

“wait, you didn’t tell me that your geography exam is literally tomorrow?!” 

“well, you did say you had something to tell me, so...”

“so you stopped studying just because i said i wanted to tell you something?!” seongmin, the study-addict that he was, was genuinely shocked (and very flattered).

“well, yeah.

because there’s something i want to tell you too.”

seongmin feels dizzy. is this where the male lead gets heartlessly rejected by the love interest? ugh, hyeongjun hyped him up way too much he forgot that rejection was an option, but as soon as taeyoung said _that_ , he felt his plan crumble into pieces. fuck it, he should at least say what he planned out. screw rejection, have no fear, he liked to think.

“taeyoung,” seongmin exhales sharply. 

“i think i like you. a lot.”

the cat’s out of the bag and seongmin wanted nothing else but to crawl into a hole and die in that very moment, but he continues. 

“you’re so easy to talk to, and i really, i mean really, enjoy spending time with you. but i understand if you don’t like me back-“

‘you don’t have to.’ seongmin wanted to add, but deep down inside him, there was a small glimmer of hope that wished that maybe, taeyoung would like him back as well.

“well then, ahn seongmin. let me say what i want as well.”

seongmin puts down the glass of iced mint tea he was holding, a little too tightly, he might add, as he braces himself for the heartbreak that was about to follow.

“i like you too. a lot.”

_what._

“i don’t know when it started, but remember that group project we did some time ago?”

seongmin pulls his eyes away from the table, focusing his attention on a trembling kim taeyoung. mouth agape, he thinks, _a year. it’s been one whole year_.

“i was too nervous to do anything back then. but i wanted to do something this year, at least, since we’re graduating and all. i just wanted to be your friend, even if it meant that my crush would be completely one-sided.” taeyoung finally tears his eyes away from the geography notes lying limply on the table.

“so basically, ahn seongmin. i’ve liked you for a while now, and i’m wondering,” taeyoung looks up to meet seongmin’s eyes, giving the biggest and most genuine smile he could muster, “if you would like to be my boyfriend?”

seongmin couldn’t believe his ears because holy frickin shit, the prettiest boy he has ever laid his eyes on, likes him back. he looks at taeyoung, too in his feels to express any other emotion except pure joy in that moment. “yes. yes please.” 

seongmin wishes he could give taeyoung the biggest hug of his life right there, but he’s not one for PDA, so he opts for holding his hand instead — something he had been wanting to do for the longest time. 

taeyoung, on the other hand, was a bright shade of red, grinning from ear to ear as his crush of approximately a year and two months fiddled with his fingers. 

“sorry, i just- it feels unreal.” taeyoung rambled. “i thought my hints weren’t obvious enough, i swear, i was about to ask the military band to serenade you or something. i don’t give out chocolates like that for everyone’s birthday, you know.”

and seongmin’s heart flutters at that. “i’m glad it’s just me then.”

“yeah, it has always been just you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is an epilogue! *ahem update on minisong ahem*


	2. epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after getting his happily-ever-after, seongmin helps hyeongjun get his as well.

_graduation day_

donning his graduation gown and cap, seongmin couldn’t BELIEVE that this day had finally came. tapping his feet to the 2010s hits playing in the background, he looked around the hall as he waited anxiously to receive his certificate.

“ahn seongmin.”

the crowd soullessly clapped as seongmin made his way up the stage. he quickly shook his principal’s hand before booking it backstage.

operation ‘help his best friend confess to his crush of one year’ commence!

being an ‘ahn’ meant that he was one of the first few to receive his graduation certificate, so, being the amazing and supportive best friend that he is, agreed to help hyeongjun with his very elaborate confession plan. seongmin sneaks over to the table with the piles of certificates, scrambling to find minhee’s.

_aha! kang minhee, class 3-2._

he pulls out an envelope from his pocket, decorated with lots of stickers and hearts.

(“isn’t that overkill? and you’re sure minhee would like that?”

“he will, i swear! he looks scary on the outside but he’s actually the biggest softie.” hyeongjun replies, slotting his handwritten letter into the envelope and sealing it shut.

“sure lover-boy.”)

seongmin opens minhee’s envelope that contained the certificate and slid in hyeongjun’s letter. envelope-ception.

“kang minhee.” he hears a voice announce. seongmin quickly jumps behind one of the many curtains backstage and watches as minhee’s envelope is taken away by the stage assistant. _phew, and now we wait._

he makes his way downstage, just in time to see taeyoung receive his own certificate. he makes sure to scream as loud as he could, parents and students be damned because that’s his boyfriend! taeyoung waves back just an enthusiastically and seongmin feels his heart do the exact same thing it did when taeyoung had confessed to him.

“we did it!”

“hell yeah we did. and honestly, i wouldn’t have done it without your history notes.” taeyoung says jokingly, certificate in one hand and seongmin’s hand in the other. “shall we go see how the two love-birds are coping with the confession?”

“oh my god, yes.”

the two make their way to the back of the hall, only to see an anxious hyeongjun standing in front of a rather nonchalant minhee.

seongmin feels his heart beat nervously as he watches the two boys converse. hyeongjun had been planning this for weeks! the least minhee could do was let him down gently, right?

however, all his worries disappeared when for the first time in four years, he sees kang minhee crack into a smile, and hyeongjun wasted no time hugging the taller boy.

giving taeyoung a high-five, seongmin felt nothing but happiness for his best friend.

high school may be one hell of a ride, but no matter what, don’t be shy to take on the scariest of things – exams or crushes be damned. _after all_ , seongmin thinks, pulling taeyoung closer to him as they watched the two pining idiots gush over each other,

_these would be the happiest times of our lives._

**Author's Note:**

> aaaannnddd that's a wrap! kudos and comments are very much appreciated <3 fun fact! this is slightly inspired (and very exaggerated) from something that happened to me irl so,,, yeah i think my irl is just being nice LOL 
> 
> do hmu on twt @tmwshj if you wanna be friends and we can cry over crvt together :") tysm so much for reading!


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